Amy Pinto-Walsh

William Powhida discusses ways to get artists paid after he visits a W.A.G.E. meeting. A golden nugget, “some private foundations make artists fees a priority in their grant funding applications, so the audience for W.A.G.E isn't just arts institutions but their funders as well.” [Hyperallergic]

Stats and graphs; the addendum to Powhida’s W.A.G.E. article. Some of these tables are really hard to read. Reader beware. [Hyperallergic]

New York Magazine dropped an art bomb this week: an entire issue on how to make it in the art world. The long and the short of it: don’t be the establishment even when you are. [NYMag] Aside from a few minor problems—Trade-up has Terence Koh moving up to Sean Kelly from Mary Boone rather than Peres Projects, and the Armory Photobooth captions are fucked up after the 26th image because they accidentally ran the same photo twice—the feature is very thorough. It’s even useful to insiders. [NYMag]

Highlights from the NYMag issue include Gavin Brown on art: “Somehow you're in the orbit of something you believe will continue to have a positive effect on our ability to survive.” There’s also some nice bits on how the dealer distinguishes himself from Larry Gagosian. [NYMag]

Also, this: “A lot of people respect me,” [Alex Katz] says. “But people used to really hate my work. As late as 1975, I had a show in Paris and people were screaming in the gallery. They were saying this is terrible art and I should go back to art school.” He shrugs. “It separated me from other artists.” [NYMag]

Finally, spoken like a true insider, John Kelsey of Reena Spaulings has this to say of the New York art world: “There is no outside anymore. It's one big expanding inside.” [NYMag]

Not exactly a surprise: Thomas Kinkade was drinking all night when he died. [MSNBC]

Also, Kinkade’s girlfriend Amy Pinto-Walsh has been issued a restraining order to protect trade secrets. [Gawker]

This NYTimes investigative report on Wal-Mart is juicy, though I’m not sure we can claim it’s art-related unless it affects Crystal Bridges. Apparently the company has been bribing the Mexican government for years, in an effort to grease their expansion plans. [NYTimes]

Finally, Tribeca will be hosting an open studio tour this coming weekend dubbed TOAST. Some of the artists aren’t exactly the best, but that’s the deal with these things. We recommend visiting the studios of AFC friends Marsha Owett and Scott Kilgore at 368 Broadway (207) for some of the stronger work. [TOAST]